Summary- Regal is drunk the night of their anniversary so Alicia decides to play a little game with him. (Silly/fluffy oneshot)
Rating- T for alcohol and very mild suggestive themes (You pretty much have to wince to catch them), just to be on the safe side.
Warning- There areextremely minor spoilers for those who haven't completed the Regal/Altamira scene with him, Presea, and Alicia. If you don't know what I'm talking about and don't want something pretty minor to the game spoiled then perhaps you should consider finding another story to read.
I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any of its characters.
Alicia giggles as she watches her lover guzzle down another pint of liquor, "Oh my, Master Bryant, I didn't know you were such a heavy drinker."
He looks at her dazedly as his eyelids droop from the large amount of alcohol he has consumed thus far. "Yesh, well, I never knew you were such a-" He hiccups, cutting him off mid sentence.
She simply giggles again as she sits next him on the bench in their little garden. Technically speaking, the Sky Terrace of Lezareno Corporation wasn't really theirs, but now wasn't the time for technicalities. Tonight is a special night for the both of them. It marks the anniversary of the two's bondage of love, or rather that's what the not so sober Regal deems it to be.
"Never knew I was such a… what now?" Alicia whispers into Regal's ear, her lips barely grazing his skin as she articulates each syllable in a way that she knew wound him up.
"Mmmm, oh ah, no. Nuttin' dah'ling."
She can tell by the way he slurs that he's anything but in his right state of mind, but for some reason, she almost prefers it this way.
Almost.
He makes a move to kiss her on the top of her head but she gently pushes him away, "Humph, it sure didn't sound like 'nothing' to me."
He gives her a toothful grin, "Don' be like that 'Licia. You know it didn' mean anything."
She knows this already but she pouts anyway just to get him flustered, "I can't believe I don't mean anything to you."
Her plan works, of course, and he quickly stumbles over himself to try to make her feel better. " 'Licia, y-ya know I didn' say that! You mean the world teh meh."
She huffed, "I suppose you expect me to take more liking to being compared to the little globe that sits on your desk everyday?"
"Of course," He grabs another drink out of the ice pack he brought and takes a sip out of it. He doesn't get very far into it until what he said finally registers with his brain, but it's already too late.
"I knew it, you don't love me at all!" She stands up in a huff and crosses her arms over her chest. "After everything as been said and done each night and day I revert back to nothing more than your little toy."
Pushing his buttons has always been a favorite game of hers to play and seeing as she is not only his lover but also his maid as well, she knew just which ones to press.
He blinks at her a few times then sighs, "Now 'Licia, ya know that's not true…"
"Is it?" She turns to face him, completing her role as agitated girlfriend with realistic tears threatening to pour from her eyes, "I bet you can't even think of five reasons why you love me."
"I can think of a whole bunch of reasons why I love ya," He tries to show genuine concern through the tone of his voice but his current intoxicated condition makes it sound like just another mess of words with empty sympathy.
"I don't believe you," She sniffs a bit and wipes away an imaginary tear.
"'Licia..." He gets off the marble bench now too and stands behind her. He tries to wrap his arms around her but she takes a quick step forward so that his limbs encircle only one another. "Jus' gimme a chance."
She turns around and shoots him a halfhearted glare if there ever was one, "Okay then, give me five good reasons why you love me so much."
He takes the bait.
Regal finishes his drink and attempts to throw it into the nearby garbage bin, though it only figures that he misses terribly. "Well, for one thing, yer always cleanin' up after meh."
"Of course I do. It's my job in case you hadn't noticed," She gives him an incredulous look. "So that doesn't count."
He grins at her, "Well that jus' brings meh to my next point. Seeing ya walk around in that little maid outfit of yers is quite a sight. Can't remember how many times I've had to stop myself from grabbing at ya right dere in my own office." He waves his left hand towards the elevator crazily, apparently a gesture of some sort.
She looks at her own apparel, not noticing the slightly lascivious glance that Regal is scanning over her person. "Yes well…" She trails off a bit and coughs, "That's one."
He taps his chin a couple times; a few minutes go by until he decides on another."Ah, yeah, you do some incredible thin's with yer hands."
The color of her face goes from a healthy peach to a faded crimson in a matter of seconds. She has a slight stutter in her voice, "I-I'm not sure I follow what you're trying to say."
The serious look, or as serious as a drunken president can look, on his face makes her the slightest bit nervous, "Sher ya do. 'Member all those times when you first started to work for meh when ya said how nervous ya got and it caused yer hands to shake? I do. You might have been nervous and shakin' but I can't remember you breakin'or droppin' anything during your entire stay with me."
She drops the game for a second and just stares at him, not believing that he was actually able to make such a long string of words coherent. It only lasts a moment before she recaptures her role, "Alright, that's two."
He begins to reach for another cold one in hopes that it would help him think better. He sees the rather put out spark in the corner of her eye and, for a change of pace, stops to contemplate his next move.
"You're the most complicabuh... complicable…" He scratches the back of his head in an aggravated way, "trickiest gal to understand that has ever stepped foot into my office in so many years."
She cocks her head to one side, trying to figure out if she should take such a thing as a thing as a compliment or not.
He abandons the drink and begins to count down on his digits, "You come in and ask how your hair looks, I say it looks just fine, and you get upset and leave. One minute you'll be happily ironin' muy socks and the next you'll be frustratin' cuz one of 'em has a hole in the toe. " He frowns the slightest bit before continuing on.
"You always come in to work wit' a smile on your face no matter how your day has been going. And whenever I used to ask you if you had a boyfriend of any sort you'd always blush and say no; but when other guys asked you out you'd say you were spoken for. Took me forever to realize you were waiting fer me to make the first move." He stops counting before chuckling a bit, "Can't say I minded that last one too much though. You were quite good at playing hard to get, but I finally managed ta snag ya'."
Alicia puts her hands on her hips in mock annoyance but she can't help but feel curious about the statement, "If I was so difficult to deal with then why did you even bother with me?"
He winks at her and says quite simply, "I love a challenge." His slightly debauched stare does not go by her unnoticed.
She sighs, "Okay, hotshot, I'll give it to you. But you still have two more to go."
"Yes, I know I'm hot. Thought you woulda realized that by now with all the times you've seen me without-"
"Master Bryant!"
He looks confused. "What? Not many people have the honor of seein' me without my busy-ness suit on. That there dark frock does my build no justice at all ya know."
She's flustered now for, unbeknownst to her, Regal is busy playing a game of his own inside the game. There's nothing cuter than seeing an Alicia who's face has taken on the same pigment as her shortened tresses.
"You try not to act it, but we both know that you're about as innocent as they come."
She pushes a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "What's that supposed to mean?"
He taps his forehead as if to indicate her mindset, "Exactly how it sounds. That lil' halo over your head aint bendable nor removable, and the thought would make most guys go mad. That lil cloud of naivete never seems to go away no matter what you do, and it's one of the things I love the most about ya."
The moon has finally come out from its hiding place behind the clouds at what had to be half past ten. It drizzles silver rays of moonlight down onto their little scene, like sunlight peaking out from the corners of a dark thunderstorm. But even such an anology pales in comparison to the glow that eminated for the girl's cherry blossom colored locks. Regal grins widely as he thinks up his final reason for what he loves about Alicia.
"We go together pretty well, I think," He's beginning to sober up a little bit, though he's still very much tipsy. "You're hair is pink- just like a medium rare steak, and mine is blue- like the water in the ocean. And that's how well we go together, like a steak in seawater."
She raises her eyebrow at the thought, couldn't say she was expecting to hear something like. "What does that have to do with what you love about me?"
"Aint it obvious? No one else could be the steak to my seawater but you."
She's laughing, despite herself, as he walks up to her. His shoes make soft grinding sounds from the many pebbles that lay strewn across the path. "I love you," he hiccups.
Alicia smiles one of her exceptionally alluring smiles that she reserves only for him as she allows him to entangle her within his arms and nestle his face against her neck.
"I mean it Alicia, I really do. I love you with all my mind, with all my soul, and with every fiber of my being." He stares gravely at the fountain behind her as he pulls her away just far enough to tip her chin upward, allowing her to see every inch of emotion that lay hidden behind his sky colored orbs. "I would do anything for you. Anything."
Her eyes soften for she knows he means every words he says. She moves his hand so that it is now pressing up against her cheek and leans into the touch warmly. "I know you would Regal, but the only thing I need from you right now is one thing…"
She reaches out and brushes her thumb against his bottom lip. He closes his eyes as he feels the lips that were never there brush against his own, and when his eyes reopen she is no longer there. He feels his cheeks slightly fade from their intoxicated pink charm as they grow colder, damper. His hand reaches up to his mouth, retracing the movement of hers over his own.
It is many years after he and Alicia have celebrated their last anniversary together and Regal Bryant at last awakens from his alcohol induced dream for what will never be the last time. It's something she never wanted in the first place.
Fin
Author's Notes: Third ToS fanfic and counting! Didn't come out exactly how I had planned it, but close enough right? Hurray for late night hours, bottles upon bottles of Coca Cola, and Johnny Cash CDs! Did anyone guess how this was going to end to some extent simply from the title? Points to whoever did! I was trying to hint at it but I wasn't quite sure how good of a job I did. Eheheh…
Please don't ask why I chose to write in the format that I did. The only reason I can really think of as to why is 'because I felt like it' and that really isn't a very good reason at all.
Feel free to tell me what you thought about my fic. I'll take whatever you say into consideration whether it be for better or worse. :)